Charlottetown Event Grounds being used as temporary storage for gravel

The Guardian

Published: Jul 12 at 6:14 p.m.

Updated: Jul 13 at 8:15 a.m.

Part of the Charlottetown Event Grounds has become a temporary holding facility for gravel and aggregate these days. The Charlottetown Area Development Corporation, which owns the property, is allowing the Charlottetown Harbour Authority to use the space for about two weeks. The gravel is being used on the Charlottetown Airport and Cornwall bypass projects. - Dave Stewart

It’s not the rock concert some people were expecting to see at the Charlottetown Event Grounds.

A rather large pile of gravel is being stored on the grounds, essentially because there is nowhere else to put it, says the general manager of the Charlottetown Area Development Corporation (CADC), which owns the event grounds.

“We’ve had an inordinate large shipment of gravel and aggregate in for two major projects and they literally ran out of space at the harbour authority,’’ said Ron Waite.

By they, Waite is talking about the Charlottetown Harbour Authority which has used up all of its own space to store gravel and aggregate, all of which is being used on the Charlottetown Airport and Cornwall bypass projects.

“With cruise ships and tankers and everything else (at the port) we’re really tight on the schedule. (The harbour authority) asked if they could use the event grounds for a very short term to capture some of the gravel so that it buys them a little (bit of) time to transport it to the airport.’’

It’s a case of gravel ships all coming in at once with product. It’s also a case where the harbour authority doesn’t have as much space as usual to store it due to expansion work going on at the port.

“It was just a request for some emergency relief for (the) short term.’’

Corryn Clemence, business development manager for the harbour authority, said it’s a big year for infrastructure improvements on P.E.I. which requires the increase in gravel importation.

“Due to the timing and use of the yard for our own expansion project and existing storage we have been provided access to the event grounds for temporary storage,’’ Clemence said. “We are certainly grateful to have a good working relationship with CADC and their willingness to accommodate this temporary use.’’

Waite said the harbour authority has promised to have all of the gravel cleaned up by the time the next event occurs at the event grounds, the P.E.I. Trucker’s Big Rig Show and Shine on Saturday, July 21.

“They’ve committed to making sure that the site is empty and cleaned up before that so we said go ahead and do it,’’ Waite said, adding that organizers with the show and shine event don’t want “a whole bunch of dust and gravel’’ around.

With work on the Mi’kmaq Confederacy craft market/office space/community centre building on Water Street expected to start soon, the waterfront is a busy place these days.

“I think it’s a good news story in that there’s lots of activity going on. It was getting to be a little bit too much activity to handle all in one location,’’ Waite said.